Stockholm - Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall said Wednesday it was not planning to sell its electricity network in Sweden, partly to raise funds for investments in British nuclear power plants as suggested in a media report.

"No such decision has been taken either by the group management or the board," Vattenfall said in a statement.

Stockholm - Volvo is to offer its Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), the XC90 in only the seven-seat version on the European market with a third row of seats including two additional child seats by the end of this year, the Swedish manufacturer has announced.

The third-row seats can be folded completely into the floor area, extending the load volume. The three individual second-row seats can also be folded down manually and adjusted individually. Additional air ducts in the floor area improve the air conditioning.

Stockholm - The multi-million dollar legal wrangling over the estate of the best-selling Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson's estate took a new twist Monday - with a surprise offer of 20 million kronor (2.8 million dollars) to his long-time partner, Eva Gabrielsson.

Larsson, who died of a heart attack at age 50 in 2004, has scored posthumous success with his so-called Millennium Trilogy that has been translated into several languages including English and German.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall and a group of five electricity-intensive companies Friday announced plans to cooperate on future power production.

A joint venture between Vattenfall and the Industrikraft group was to study the feasibility of various energy sources, including renewables as well as possibly building a new nuclear reactor to ensure cheap "baseload power."

Stockholm - A several-hundred-million euro order for over 100 Finnish-built armoured vehicles for the Swedish military violated public procurement laws and must be redone, a court ruled Thursday.

In a surprise move, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in June said it planned to buy the eight-wheel vehicles from the Finnish company Patria Land & Armament Oy instead of the Swedish- based Hagglunds.

The order for 113 armoured vehicles and other equipment is worth 240 million euros (355 million dollars).

Stockholm - Falling vehicle deliveries severely hurt Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Scania, with the company reporting a more than 80 per cent drop in pre-tax third-quarter earnings, to 383 million kronor (56 million dollars).

The pre-tax earnings compares with a pre-tax profit of 2.5 billion kronor in the same quarter of 2008. This year's third-quarter net profit was 278 million kronor.

"Vehicle deliveries decreased by nearly 50 per cent and were the main explanation for the earnings downturn," Chief Executive Leif Ostling commented.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of 2.2 billion kronor (324 million dollars), compared to 1.2 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2008. The year-on-year net profit grew from 847 million to 1.6 billion kronor.

Net sales were up 4.8 per cent to 27.7 billion kronor in the quarter.

Chief Executive Hans Straberg said in a statement that markets remained "weak" and although the North American was stabilizing, "the European market has not yet hit bottom."

Stockholm - Marcos Baghdatis reached his first final in more than two years Saturday as top seed Robin Soderling retired before their Stockholm Open semi-final with a right elbow injury.

The walkover thrust the 2006 Australian Open finalist from Cyprus into the Sunday title match against 87th-ranked Belgian Oliver Rochus, who beat Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 in almost 2 hours 30 minutes.

Baghdatis last won a title in Zagreb more than two and a half years ago and will play his first final since summer of that year in Halle, Germany.

Stockholm - Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil reached his second semi-final in three months Friday with a huge serving performance to defeat Swede Joachim Johansson 7-6
(7-4), 6-3 at the Stockholm Open.

Bellucci, 21, the August winner in Gstaad on clay, rained down 18 aces, but had to deal with 13 off the racket of Johansson, the number 511 whose interrupted career has been a drama of shoulder injuries and long periods of inactivity.

The Swede, 27, was playing only his fifth ATP match of the season and fourth Stockholm quarter-final. Bellucci's serve was never broken while Johansson saved four of the five break points he faced.